Teacher Appreciation
Source/Author: Mike Murphy, Headmaster
May 08, 2020
If there is ever a time to appreciate Shorecrest teachers, it is now! Even when they are not able to be physically present to their students, they are with them. One of the insightful authors I have read in the past 7 weeks (of quarantine) noted that for many teachers the move from face-to-face teaching in a classroom to distance learning on Zoom and other forms of media thrust teachers back into being first year rookies. We quickly learned that even though teaching remotely was new for most teachers, the core skills - including the love for students, the ability to inspire and the collaborative process that teaching has become - allowed for great learning experiences to occur and the “rookies” performed like the pros they are.
During the past week two past Board Chairs, Tom Andrews and Elizabeth Samuelson, our current Board Chair, Dennis Leary, and our incoming Board Chair, Beth Vivio, addressed the faculty during our Zoom faculty/staff meeting. We were reminded that the whole may be larger than the sum of the parts, but when the parts - our teachers - are so strong, they make the total experience very, very special. The Board Chairs shared how the faculty and staff have become the extended family for their children and for their families. Teachers and administrators have shared some of the thoughtful gestures students and parents have extended to them this past week. We are thankful for the efforts and generosity to show appreciation.
Hopefully, we all have memories of teachers who inspired us and in many cases changed our lives. As a student, I had two such teachers. Both regularly took me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to try new experiences. I am incredibly thankful to Mr. Jaroff from The Bullis School and Dr. O’Donnell from the University of Dayton.
Then there are the teachers with whom I have taught and those I have hired. Shorecrest parents and guardians know many of them. They are the people who over the past year or years have connected with your children. They are the teachers who, like the two I mentioned above, respected your child while challenging them to reach. They inspired them. They cared for them. They went out of their way to enrich your child’s life. While it takes the full faculty and staff to create a complete educational experience, we all know that there are individual teachers who change a child’s life. I hope you sent a note or called one of those special people this week. Let them know that their talent and efforts are noticed.
Thank you for your ongoing support for the children, teachers and staff at Shorecrest.
Cheers!
Mike
